28% of US Adults Use an Electronic Reader Device (Kindle, iPad, Nook, Etc.) to Read Books
According to Harris Interactive, 28 percent of U.S. adults currently use an electronic reader device to read books, up from 15 percent in 2011.
The Harris Poll of 2,056 adults surveyed between Feb. 6 and Feb. 13, 2012, found that 28 percent of respondents use an e-reader device, such as a Kindle, iPad or Nook, to read books. This mark was at 15 percent in 2011 and 8 percent in 2010.
When broken down into age brackets, Harris Interactive found that 30 percent of echo boomers (18-35) use an e-reader to read books, while 30 percent of generation X (36-47), 24 percent of baby boomers (48-66) and 28 percent of matures (67+) said the same.
In response to the question “How likely do you think you will be to get an e-reader device within the next six months?” 13 percent said very likely (3 percent) or somewhat likely (10 percent). This figure was 15 percent in 2011 and 12 percent in 2010.
The poll also found that 29 percent of e-reader users say they read 21+ books a year, on average, compared with 15 percent of those who don’t use e-readers who said the same. Meanwhile, 21 percent of e-reader users say they read 11-20 books a year, compared with 11 percent of those who don’t use e-readers; 24 percent of e-reader users say they read 6-10 books a year, compared with 16 percent of those who don’t use e-readers; and 16 percent of e-reader users say they read 3-5 books a year, compared with 21 percent of those who don’t use e-readers.
Harris also found that e-reader users are more likely to have purchased more books in the past year than those who don’t use e-readers. Twenty percent of e-reader users say they purchased 21+ books in the past year, compared with 8 percent of those who don’t use e-readers. The splits were 21 percent/9 percent for 11-20 books, 18 percent/13 percent for 6-10 books, 21 percent/18 percent for 3-5 books, 11 percent/17 percent for 1-2 books, and 10 percent/36 percent for zero books.
Separate data from the International Data Corporation (IDC)’s Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker indicates that worldwide media tablet shipments into sales channels rose 56.1 percent on a sequential basis in the fourth quarter of 2011. A total of 28.2 million units were shipped worldwide, according to IDC. This reflected a 155 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2010.
In 2011, 68.7 million media tablets were shipped worldwide. IDC forecasts this figure to rise to 106.1 million in 2012 and 198.2 million in 2016.
“As the sole vendor shipping iOS products, Apple will remain dominant in terms of worldwide vendor unit shipments," said Tom Mainelli, research director for mobile connected devices. "However, the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google’s OS will overtake Apple’s in terms of worldwide market share by 2015. We expect iOS to remain the revenue market share leader through the end of our 2016 forecast period and beyond.”
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